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Why this hysteria over pole dancing at pub?
• HAVE any of your recent correpondents actually been to a pole dancing club (Clubs bring abuse rise, October 26)? If they haven’t, then the prophesies about the disastrous impact of such a club on the people of Archway are utterly ridiculous.
All over Islington there are shops catering to the “sex trade”, which are properly licensed and professionally run, and with absolutely no negative effect on the environment.
Most readers won’t even know they are there because they are discreetly sited and deliberately nondescript in their outward appearance.
Children are not affected. Neither has the incidence of abuse to women in the neighbourhood increased – and, most importantly, these premises do not act as some sort of “dirty old man magnet”, drawing unwelcome outsiders into the area.
Please can the hysteria die down, and be replaced with a sober assessment about the realistic effects of the Archway Tavern gaining a licence to hold table dancing.
George Locke
Manningford Close, EC1
• I TAKE considerable offence at the spectacle of Cllr Ursula Woolley setting herself up as the moral representative of the people of Archway – by telling us that “lap dancing and pole dancing are the last things we want there” (Clubs bring abuse rise, October 26).
Simply listing her personal objections to this sort of entertainment really isn’t good enough and betrays a naïve understanding of relevant licensing legislation and a lack of focus on effective avenues open to the community to prevent the lap dancing club going ahead.
Changes to the licensing laws in force since November last year give the council just four grounds on which to refuse a club licence: proven public nuisance; harm to children; a threat to public safety on the premises; and a threat to crime and disorder on the premises and the surrounding area.
This has meant that several clubs of this type in London have already been given the go-ahead, despite objections from residents on moral grounds.
For once, Cllr Woolley and her fellow Liberal Democrats should stop seizing every opportunity to make a quick political advantage from a local issue and instead try to act as champions of the community by working with Labour councillors, the Labour MP and Mayor of London Ken Livingstone to achieve what is best for the area – putting party allegiances to one side.
I fear that she would not be open to this, as the Lib Dems have demonstrated conflicting attitudes to issues around the sex trade.
Leading members of her party have spoken out in favour of allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to visit sex shops, which they would make easier to set up and run.
Indeed, the current Lib Dem culture spokesman Don Foster has championed a softer line on making porn more widely available.
Surely, this is just the sort of liberalism that Cllr Woolley is deploring in her letter last week. Furthermore, her party has repeatedly opposed government legislation to give communities the power to close pubs and clubs that cause trouble.
The sight of politicians competing for the role as protectors of our morality fills me with despair – because without a coordinated and properly-led campaign this wretched lap dancing club might just get the go-ahead.
Bella Morris
Tremlett Grove, N19
• I WAS surprised to see Chris Bailey’s letter (We must all oppose lap dancing club, October 19). As chairman of licensing, I can confidently say that the application has not been to any council committee yet, and that I, as a local councillor, will be there to speak out on behalf of residents against this application when it does go to the committee.
The council has no say over what pubs apply for in Islington. It has a duty to hear all applications and tell residents exactly what the pub has applied for. This does not mean the council in anyway supports or approves this application.
In fact, the first chance the council has to comment on an application is when it comes in front of a committee, which only happens if someone objects.
Anyone who has attended a licensing committee meeting will know that these applications are rarely simply “waved through”, especially when an application has roused the strength of feeling this one has.
As a local councillor I have been left in no doubt about the strength of feeling regarding this application from residents and users of the Archway.
I look forward to seeing Mr Bailey at the licensing meeting which hears this application and to him adding his voice to the councillors who will be putting forward the views of the community.
CLLR Stefan Kasprzyk
Lib Dem, Junction ward
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